In the telephone, communications and data transmission industries, increasing use is being made of flat multiconductor cable of the type including a planar array of individually insulated conductors surrounded by a sheath or jacket of insulative material. In addition, there is more use, for example, in the telephone industry of modular plug type connectors. Such modular connectors are mounted on floor terminals which in turn are desirably electrically connected by the flat multiconductor cable to a wall terminal block, the flat cable extending unobtrusively beneath floor carpeting.
Because of the modern office requirements for office layout flexibility, field installation of telephone terminals and associated cable connections is necessary. In connecting an end of the cable to ancillary electrical terminals, couplings or the like, the cable end is to be stripped of its outer insulative sheath with the insulation of the individual conductors remaining intact. In field applications, where sophisticated wire stripping devices are often not readily available and are relatively costly, resort has been had to a variety of manual stripping tools. These conventional stripping devices have a tendency in pulling off the outer sheath to also pull off some or all of the insulation of the individual conductors. Accordingly, it is desirable to remove the outer insulative shield without damaging the individual conductor insulation with a device that has particular use in field installations.